Egypt was the first country to adopt the FN-49 rifle, and its purchases actually predated FN's development of a method for mounting a telescopic sight to the rifles. So Egypt came up with its own solution, using Czech Meopta 2.5 power scopes.

However, by the time Egypt was making its last orders for FN49 rifles, FN had begun offering Echo mounts for telescopic sights. So, on the last order of 2,000 rifles, Egypt ordered guns with additional third sling swivels and converted a number of them into snipers after delivery. They did this by adding FN/Echo pattern scope mounts and converting their Meopta scopes to fit them. Original pattern Egyptian FN49 snipers are virtually nonexistant in the United States, but a number of the later pattern examples were imported and are available on the collectors' market.